Love at First Psych
by SalazarSlytherin17
Summary: Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy meet in a muggle psychiatric unit. The line between love and hate becomes more than a little blurry. TRIGGER WARNING: This story has talk of suicide and self harm. Do not read if these trigger you.
1. The Beginning

Prologue

3 Years After the War

She stared at the prison blue walls around her. There was a locked bathroom to her right, a security camera to her left, and a single blue cot in the middle of the room. While this was no Azkaban, it certainly felt the same to her.

Hermione Granger was a young women who was supposed to be at the height of life. After defeating one of the darkest wizards known to man, the brains of the Golden Trio had gone on to finish her 7th year of Hogwarts. She had once held dreams of becoming Minister for Magic one day, but the war had left her more wounded than she cared to admit.

That was how she found herself here, a muggle Emergency Room requiring a full mental health evaluation and admittance to the Psychiatric Unit on the second floor.


	2. Chapter 1

"Miss Granger?"

Hermione hasn't been paying attention during group, choosing instead to trace the lines on her forearm and get lost in a word where Voldemort had never returned.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you"

Chase looked annoyed. Hermione was annoyed.

"I asked if you could tell the group what brought you to the hospital?"

Chase was part therapist, part "friend" to all the patients. Some of the more needy ones, like Rose, ate that right up, but Hermione wasn't fooled. Chase wanted to get paid and go home, just like the rest of them.

"Well I'm here because some friends found out I was self harming. They didn't see any...other alternatives, so they dumped me here." She responded, not bothering to hide her annoyance at being asked the same question every day.

"What do you mean 'dumped' you here. What else would you have done if you were in their shoes?"

Today's group was getting out of hand. Hermione just wanted to keep her head down and get back to her life. However messed up it may have been.

"I would have sat down and had a conversation first, before app- jumping over here right away"

The lack of sleep was really grating on her. She almost slipped up. It couldn't happen again. She'd been in the hospital for a week with about four total hours and no sign of being released soon.

"I see." Chase was clearly frustrated with her lack of communication so he moved on.

"Rose, how are-"

And Hermione stopped listening. She was back to tracing her scars and dreaming about a world where Voldemort had never returned, or even never existed. How desperately she wished she didn't have to lie every time someone asked about her MUDBLOOD scar. Everyone at the hospital believed she had done it herself, just like all her other scars. She began to think of Hogwarts and everyone that had returned. Just as her thoughts drifted toward a certain redhead she caught a flash of blonde hair at the nurse's station. She groaned aloud.

That hair could only mean one thing.


	3. Chapter 2

Draco Malfoy. What the hell was Draco Malfoy doing in a muggle psychiatric ward. He was finished getting checked in by the time group was finished, so Hermione rushed to catch him before Rose dug in her claws.

"Malfoy, what the hell are you doing here?"

"First of all, it's Drake as long as I'm here. I'm going to pretend I don't know you and you'll pretend you don't know me. We don't need to speak to each other, look at each other, or even think about each other, got it? I'm getting out of here as soon as I can and you better not do anything to jeopardize that"

"Why would I-"

"You can leave and go read now", he said with a tone that meant it wasn't a suggestion.

"Fine. Just watch out for- you know what, never mind you arse"

Hermione stalked away to pick up her book, but she had no intentions of reading. She simply observed the other patients in the ward with her. Which now included Malfoy and she couldn't deny that she was interested in why he was here. Group tonight would certainly be interesting.

Rose walked up to Malfoy to speak with him as Hermione watched from behind her book.

"You have a gorgeous face" she said.

Great starter, Rose, she thought. Malfoy seemed to like it though and she continued to watch as they chatted like they weren't both stuck in a mental hospital.

She hated the git more than she could say, but she wanted someone to talk to that knew her world. That knew magic. She would try again once she knew the full story.

"Group time everyone!" Chase yelled.

Oh, this was going to be good.


	4. Chapter 3

"Here Drake, you can sit by me" Rose said with a hint of flirtation.

Draco smirked and sat down with Rose on his right and Kevin on his right. What was he playing at? Rose and Kevin were the two most annoying people on the ward. Hermione rolled her eyes and waiting for Chase to begin group.

"Alright I'm seeing some new faces today. Let's start with you Drake, what brings you to the hospital?"

"I have some mean friends. They dumped me here for no good reason."

"Ah, Hermione said something very similar in our last group. Perhaps you two should talk about your situations and decided if 'dumped' is really the right word."

Hermione jumped in, "Oh no, I really don't think-"

"Now Hermione, it would be good for you to interact with the other patients here. You won't leave any sooner by isolating yourself. I want to see you and Drake talking by the end of the day"

Hermione shut her mouth in utter disbelief. How could this be happening?

"That's fine with me Chase" Draco smirked again. "We'll talk over lunch"

So now he wanted to talk to her? If she wasn't already in the mental ward she'd wager she was going crazy.

She was eating her chicken tenders while staring down Malfoy.

"Why are you here" she ground out.

"Well that is a story. As you know, I've been sentenced to four years without magic, so I had to adjust to the muggle lifestyle. I made some friends, and said friends found me on the bathroom floor with cuts all over my arm and sent me up here. Your turn."

"Similar story. Harry and Ron found me, took away my wand and took me straight to St. Mungo's. But Ron wasn't happy with the way they handled it so Harry suggested this place. And here I am. I'm hoping to be released soon."

"You wouldn't if you release that glamour charm you're so clearly using" he said, glancing at her arms.

"Don't say anything about that. I practiced my wandless magic a lot during the war. I'm pretty good at it too. They don't need to know what I do" she snapped back.

"Isn't that the whole point of this place? Monitoring us to make sure we're 'safe'?"

"It's hard to stop cutting when you carry the blade with you everywhere you go Malfoy. You should know"

And then he surprised her.

"Yeah I do. Look, living as a muggle has taught me a lot, and I realize how horrible I was to you, even when I first saw you were here. I hope one day you can forgive me."

He stood and put away his lunch tray, charming the nurses even though he hadn't eaten a thing.

What the hell just happened?


End file.
